Amaal Mallik Quotes

It seemed record companies wanted bands to be creative because they didn't know how to manufacture underground music. We could do our own thing and go at our own pace. But that changed when major labels started wanting bands that would sell 7 million records.

Commercial music, for the most part, is popular music and you always have to keep that in mind.

Having a solo career is a funny thing.

I feel like once the song is done, you put it out there and if people want to do bizarre remixes, if people want to make strange videos, great. You know, like chaos theory applied to the music business.

The whole point of 'Acid Rap' was just to ask people a question: does the music business side of this dictate what type of project this is? If it's all original music and it's got this much emotion around it and it connects this way with this many people, is it a mixtape? What's an 'album' these days, anyways?

I'm not an artist that makes singles, I'm an artist that makes albums, and it's a totally different thing.

I'm a catalogue artist: I compete with Bob Dylan.

I don't write songs thinking about formats, where is it going to get played, who am I gonna please, what's the outlet for it.

Today, music is great for entertainment, but it is lacking soul; it's lacking substance, and it's difficult to find good stuff. There are too many corporate interests. It's not about the actual music because it's about the corporation, and music just becomes part of a package.

There's never been a song that I just wrote and tried to send to an artist.

I just really want to make albums - and however I can, I will.

You know, I get a lot of people pitching songs to me.

The market didn't define the music; the music defined the market.

Everyone in the music industry is so fun and laid-back.

The tough thing about radio is I've met a lot of people in it who like my music. But it's hard for them to figure out how to play what they like when there's somebody up above them yelling 'you have to play this.'

It used to be that creative music was most of the music that you heard back in the '30s and '40s, and now it's like 3 percent. So, its kind of a struggle getttin' it out there.

I like Rick Ross as a person. I like Jay-Z and Kanye West as people. But I hate the companies that they record for.

Unfortunately, music devolved instead of evolved. The music business got into the hands of lawyers and accountants rather than the entrepreneurial creative people, and that's when the beginning of the end started. It's all based on money instead of art and creativity.

When I used to put an album out, I knew everyone on the charts. There weren't that many bands. Now, I couldn't even name half the new groups.

It wasn't until I became involved with 'Nashville' that I thought I had opportunities to record my music in a way that I would want to put it out into the world.

Today, the scope for variety has shrunk drastically. There are only a handful of topnotch composers like A. R. Rahman, Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit... that's it.

My passion is music, you know, and music influences culture, influences lifestyle, which leads me to 'Roc-A-Wear'. I was forced to be an entrepreneur, so that led me to be CEO of 'Roc-A-Fella' records, which lead to Def Jam.

When I was working on 'Coloring Book,' I knew that I wanted it to be a beacon for independent artists and music makers with their own agenda.

When you get to a point where you're not beholden to a record company, then it's up to you to say, 'OK, enough knob-turning. We're done.'

We have incredible record labels in Australia, but sometimes they have a preconceived idea of how to do things.